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>supporting multiple codegen architectures Shouldnt it be a result of modular software design? >exposing the compiler as an API for external tooling Isn't it

>supporting multiple codegen architectures Shouldnt it be a result of modular software design? >exposing the compiler as an API for external tooling Isn't it just generating libraries instead of executables?

remexre 2y ago
Making the _compiler itself_ provide an API enables things like LSP, which don't want to generate machine code at all. A traditional single-pass compiler usually can't accommodate this without re-plumbing.
- halffullbrain 2y ago
  The Eclipse Compiler for Java [1] is a notable exception, architected around incremental compilation, an API for “live” AST manipulation, and a layered non-batch approach to when to invoke various analysis steps. The LSP for Java [2] used in eg. VSCode’s Java plugins, builds on this API. But, no, I haven’t seen a generalized approach to this architecture discussed in literature. 1: https://github.com/eclipse-jdt/eclipse.jdt.core https://github.com/eclipse-jdt/eclipse.jdt.core 2: https://github.com/eclipse-jdtls/eclipse.jdt.ls https://github.com/eclipse-jdtls/eclipse.jdt.ls
- tester756 2y ago
  I'm aware, I've used C#/.NET Compiler ecosystem and their Compiler as a Service approach But it seems like you're just creating libs that everyone and embedd / use and that's it e.g `auto ast = Compiler.GenerateAST(code);`
tiu 2y ago
I wrote 'multiple codegen architectures' instead of 'multiple architectures for codegen'. As far as I have done in the toy compilers and seen the things in actual production ready compilers, the codegen is still very much tied to the one thing or the other rest llvm.
- elcritch 2y ago
  Nim has multiple backends and is relatively mature. It’s fairly readable as compilers go. There’s also a new experimental rewrite of the Nim compiler called Nimony which targets a new intermediate called NIFC. That is intended to the be transformed to C, LLVM, JavaScript, etc.
- tester756 2y ago
  >I wrote 'multiple codegen architectures' instead of 'multiple architectures for codegen'. You want to generate e.g x86 + ARM + RISCV, yea?, and shouldnt it be a result of modular architecture? like your various codegens just take your AST and generate output

remexre 2y ago

Making the _compiler itself_ provide an API enables things like LSP, which don't want to generate machine code at all. A traditional single-pass compiler usually can't accommodate this without re-plumbing.

halffullbrain 2y ago
The Eclipse Compiler for Java [1] is a notable exception, architected around incremental compilation, an API for “live” AST manipulation, and a layered non-batch approach to when to invoke various analysis steps. The LSP for Java [2] used in eg. VSCode’s Java plugins, builds on this API. But, no, I haven’t seen a generalized approach to this architecture discussed in literature. 1: https://github.com/eclipse-jdt/eclipse.jdt.core https://github.com/eclipse-jdt/eclipse.jdt.core 2: https://github.com/eclipse-jdtls/eclipse.jdt.ls https://github.com/eclipse-jdtls/eclipse.jdt.ls
tester756 2y ago
I'm aware, I've used C#/.NET Compiler ecosystem and their Compiler as a Service approach But it seems like you're just creating libs that everyone and embedd / use and that's it e.g `auto ast = Compiler.GenerateAST(code);`

tiu 2y ago

I wrote 'multiple codegen architectures' instead of 'multiple architectures for codegen'. As far as I have done in the toy compilers and seen the things in actual production ready compilers, the codegen is still very much tied to the one thing or the other rest llvm.

elcritch 2y ago
Nim has multiple backends and is relatively mature. It’s fairly readable as compilers go. There’s also a new experimental rewrite of the Nim compiler called Nimony which targets a new intermediate called NIFC. That is intended to the be transformed to C, LLVM, JavaScript, etc.
tester756 2y ago
>I wrote 'multiple codegen architectures' instead of 'multiple architectures for codegen'. You want to generate e.g x86 + ARM + RISCV, yea?, and shouldnt it be a result of modular architecture? like your various codegens just take your AST and generate output